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Tuesday, July 12, 2016

I almost got my pictures from vacation uploaded, but not quite. I'll have to finish that post when I get home next week. My family is leaving for my cousins' house tomorrow, so it will have to wait.

Lately I've been...

- reading. A lot. In the past week I've read Thief Eyes, Little Women, Criss Cross, Landlines, And Then There Were None, Peter Pan, A School for Brides, and Absolutely Truly. I'm working on Goodbye Stranger.

- listening to the "He's a Pirate" score on repeat

- blatantly not practicing my flute

- teaching myself French

- missing my best friend. Oh how I hate distance. I haven't seen her since May because life. It hurts.

- doing tons of laundry. All of my clothes smell vaguely of smoke and swamp from our family vacation in a cabin, and I have to pack to visit my cousins by tomorrow.

- working in my little garden. And by little, I mean four pansies and some seedlings.

Thursday, July 7, 2016

I read a Tumblr post recently about how teenage girls have changed languages throughout history. (I'll try to find it again and link it.) It talked about language structure in teen girls' letters. Throughout history, letters written by girls my age tended to differ grammatically from letters written by adults. Gradually, the language leaned in that direction. For example, teenage girls started dropping "thee" and using "you." They stopped using "thine" and started using "mine." The rest of the world followed that trend.

Over time, teenage girls were the main reason for languages changing.

That made me think: what if one day the whole English-speaking world starts speaking like fangirls? That's the stuff of nightmares for a grammar Nazi like me, although I tend to let grammar slide when I'm in fangirl mode. Well, should that ever happen, here are a few guidelines for those of you who aren't as learned in that area. xD

angst-- adj. describes a situation or literary piece which contains dark, depressing, angry, and/or brooding emotions from the participating characters; often used to describe fanfiction: the Sherlolly fanfic had too much angst and I couldn't keep reading.

as;ldkfja;lkaa;sldfkja;sldkfj-- keyboard slamming is a way of showing one's unbearable emotion, usually expressing overflowing joy or violent sobbing:

AU-- n. alternate universe in which a fanfiction is set: That fanfiction where Sherlock is a caveman was totally an AU.

canon-- adj. official; truth; known to be a real thing: I will rest in peace when Sherlolly is canon.

fanart-- n. art made by a fan: Abbyrose draws some epic Pokémon fanart.

fandom-- the community that surrounds a TV show, movie, or book; often includes fanartists, fanfiction writers, cosplayers, bloggers, etc: The Superwholock fandom is insane.

fanfiction-- n. a piece of writing created by a fan using someone else's characters: Did you read that new Doctor Who fanfic?

feels-- n. overwhelming emotion often expressed through keyboard slamming or high-pitched squeals; often accompanies angsty fanfictions: Omg did you watch that new episode? FEEEEEEELS!

headcanon-- n. a personal interpretation of canon typically proposed by a fan; possible scenarios and backstories for the characters that would fit with canon. Lauren, come read my new headcanon where Sherlock had an imaginary friend.

No-TP-- n. the opposite of one's OTP; a couple you cannot stand to be shipped: I wish this no-TP trash would stop showing up on my dash.

ship-- v. to endorse a romantic relationship: I ship Rose and the Doctor so hard. n. a romantic relationship between two characters or people; an unrealistic pairing that you love so much but it causes you so much pain because it's misery to ship something not canon and all you can do is read fanfiction and look at cute fanart and keyboard slam and clutch at your heart shrieking "FEEELS!" while slowly melting into the ground... sorry.

squick-- n. something that makes one feel uncomfortable: Johnlock is a major squick for me.

How many of these words did you already know? Tell me in the comments. More on fangirl vocabulary here.

4. "lol", "yeah", and "like" are punctuation. you don't even understand lol i was just like... yeah

5. Master the keyboard slam. It's a freestyle form of art. Embrace it.

6. Watch the show. No one likes people who pretend like they know what they're talking about. Do your research; read the book before you watch the movie. Join the fandom. Go crazy like the rest of us.

Tuesday, July 5, 2016

I set up a Tumblr blog a few months ago, and there were a few things I wish people had told me before I started.

1. Everyone is crazy. Everyone on Tumblr is obsessed with something: fandoms, politics, fashion, feminism, vegetarianism. They're all very dedicated. Be careful what you post because people can interpret things in a different way than you meant.

2. Porn blogs exist. And they follow you. Yes, I know. Lovely. I've never really been exposed to this kind of thing. This was not something I had a lot of trouble with on Blogger, but on Tumblr it's apparently very common. Imagine innocent me scrolling through my notifications, seeing a new follower, and excitedly clicking on their blog. Imagine the shock at what pops up. Something I did not know: if someone you don't know follows you or shows up in your notifications, make sure you let the profile picture load before you click on their url. Just about all porn blogs have nude profile pics, so look for that. For some reason they don't unfollow you if you don't immediately follow back like with other bots...? I don't know. Just wish I'd been warned.

3. Know what Superwholock is. You don't know? *gasp* Uncultured swine! Superwholock is a giant crossover fandom uniting fangirls (and boys) who watch Supernatural, Doctor Who, and BBC Sherlock. 1 in 3 Tumblr users is part of the Superwholock fandom.* If you want to get to know your Tumblr community, you've got to understand this complex fandom.

4. The mobile app is terrible. It's slow. Pictures don't load. You can't edit your blog. It takes up tons of memory and data. If you're someone who typically only visits social media on your phone, don't get Tumblr. Use the website at all costs. Otherwise you might break your phone throwing it across the room.

5. There is a difference between messaging, asks, and fanmail. I've been on Tumblr since September and I still don't know how to use any of them. The staff keeps making changes to it. I honestly can't help you.

Saturday, July 2, 2016

Last night we went to a friend's house to watch the fireworks in town. This is the first year we've ever not been at the Outer Banks during the first week of July. We had a good time. Lots of food, laughter, blankets, and stars.

I took a few pictures. My camera is broken, so I'm using my dad's old Bloggie camera for now. The quality isn't the best, but I try to edit a little and I think they're okay. What do you think?

Random eerie street light.

My family is leaving for vacation tomorrow, so I've queued a bunch of posts for the next few days. Have a lovely week!